All posts tagged ‘Thor’

It's only Tuesday, and this year's 12 Days of Geekmas is already off to a wonderful start.

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It's only Tuesday, and this year's 12 Days of Geekmas is already off to a wonderful start.

Check out our second GeekDad HipTrax Stocking Stuffer to learn more about today's prizes, and to hear "Run, Run Rudolph" as covered by geek rockers Miscast. Peruse the gallery to get a look at all the featured goods, and don't forget to enter your information into the form below before 11:59 PM EST tonight to qualify for the drawing.

As the spate of comic movies continue to hit the big screen, we in the fanboy universe start to naturally speculate on who we’d like to see get the big-screen treatment next. While DC has lagged behind Marvel in the volume and quality of live-action comic-based films (though their animated ones are excellent for the most part), there are some heroes that could use the big-screen treatment, even if the production companies consider them second-tier characters, such as Aquaman.

As many of you may know from following me on Twitter, I have an unnatural love for all things Aquaman. While he’s not my favorite comic hero, he’s certainly at the top of my list in the DC Universe. I can’t really explain why. Maybe it’s the hook on his hand, maybe it’s the underwater adventures that no other hero really has. Maybe it’s because he’s not Namor. Either way, as an Aquaman fan I’d love to see DC try to get an Aquaman movie made, but that probably will never become a reality. Here’s ten reasons why DC and Warner Bros. will probably never produce an Aquaman movie.

1. It would require a massive budget.

Considering that most of Aquaman’s world is underwater, and since Warner Bros. already stated he is a second tier character, there is no way he’d get the money required for all those underwater effects. We’re talking Waterworld money, in the $200 million range or more. Unless a major director with a serious love for our hook-handed hero gets involved, which is always possible. Continue Reading “10 Reasons There Won’t Ever Be an Aquaman Movie” »

There are two things that I will always geek out on: comic books and typography. I can talk for hours about either. And when I can geek out on both at the same time? That’s my definition of nerdvana. Matthew Olin is a talented designer who, as part of his MFA in graphic design from the University of Minnesota, put together some really cool posters of DC and Marvel superheroes using letters (called glyphs to typophiles) for the outlines.

Each character has their own unique font, one that fits their character. For example, Batman is Gotham Book, a sans-serif font that is “Assertive and familiar — Enforcing structure and authority.” On the other hand, Catwoman is Bodoni Roman, a Didone-classified font that is “smart but stylish — influential with its curves, while deceptive in weight.” Sound familiar?

According to Matt, “My goal, was to create an understanding for design through the similarities found between design principles and our already existing knowledge of superheroes.”

And Matt grew up a type-geek: “I used to re-create historic manuscripts in Microsoft Word when I was little; trying to typeset them the exact same as their originator’s handwriting (i.e., match Bickham Script to Abraham Lincoln’s penmanship on The Gettysburg Address), which is probably when my first experience with typefaces started.”

One last important question I had for Matt: DC or Marvel? “DC. I’ve grown up with Batman and Superman since I can remember, whereas I didn’t really get into the X-Men, Spider-Man or other Marvel characters until later in my childhood.”

Disney bought Marvel nearly three years ago, but it’s taken until this year to see synergy really grow out of the purchase. So far this year, we’ve seen the Marvel Universe programming block on Disney XD, and we’ve seen Disney throw its considerable marketing weight behind the blockbuster film The Avengers. But it’s only now that true integration of Disney and Marvel has been announced, in the form of a crossover animated special starring Marvel superheroes and the characters from Phineas and Ferb.

Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel will premiere next summer on Disney Channel, and will see classic Marvel heroes Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor being transported to Phineas and Ferb‘s Danville and immobilized by, of course, one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s many “inators.” Consequently, Phineas and Ferb (along with their friends and Agent P, one must assume) have to find a way to help the heroes and to fight the classic Marvel villains Red Skull, Whiplash, Venom, and M.O.D.O.K., who are (of course) working with Dr. D to create mayhem and destruction.

I must admit I wasn’t entirely looking forward to the first crossover between Disney’s more traditional properties and their relatively newly-acquired Marvel properties, but — since you know it had to happen eventually — I can’t think of anyone I’d trust to do it justice more than the folks at Phineas and Ferb. I’ve spoken with Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh, the show’s creators and executive producers, many times, and I’m confident they’ll find a way to create humor around their characters while managing not to disrespect the legacy of the Marvel universe. Maybe they’ll even find a way to work in a shawarma joke!

And I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief that they’re not trying to go the other way somehow. Can you imagine Darkwing Duck showing up in Avengers 2?

EDIT: I overlooked last month’s “takeover” of Disney’s online Club Penguin by the Marvel Super Heroes, which was really the first crossover event (and reportedly was very well-received); Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel will be the first animated production crossover. My apologies to all the folks who worked on the Club Penguin event, and to those who participated.

Check out the promo “featurette” after the jump for an idea of what to expect next summer.

For readers ages ten and over, there are many answers to the question and there are any number of books that will suit them.

But there aren’t nearly as many titles for the younger crowd anymore, at least not featuring the heroes they know and love from movies or television.

Marvel Super Heroes magazine is aimed directly at those kids. I think it’s best compared to Highlights magazine but with Marvel superheroes. It contains comics, pull-out posters, games, puzzles, cutouts, quizzes and bios of various characters. In this issue, there was a complete Thor story, a “crack the Hydra code” with Black Widow activity, an Avengers profile with full Marvel comics team, a recap of Cap’s origin, and a number of posters and pull-out sections that are designed to wind up on the walls of kid’s room.

I reviewed several review copies and passed them around to my kids. While they were too old at thirteen for much of the games, they loved the Thor story inside, the character bios and the artwork.

The book is published by Disney Publishing Worldwide and the marketing aims it squarely at the audience who don’t make it to the comic shop on a regular basis. It’s being carried by Wal-Mart, Target, B&N and other major retail outlets. Subscriptions are also available. The only drawback is the price: $4.99 for single issue and $29.82 for the subscription.

However, the book is oversize, glossy and in full glorious color that makes the art really pop. I also give Disney Publishing credit for using artists that stay away from cheesecake poses for the female characters. Instead, the style is much closer to the character’s depictions in the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes television show.

Considering that The Avengers has been shattering box office records right and left since it opened, and that it passed the $700 million mark worldwide yesterday, it can hardly be considered a surprise that a sequel is already in the works.

Still, it’s nice to get official notice that the process has begun, and Disney CEO Bob Iger gave such notice yesterday during a conference call discussing the company’s quarterly earnings. He didn’t say when we should expect the film to hit theaters, but confirmed the schedule for the individual heroes’ movies they’d floated before: Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 next year, and Captain America 2 in 2014.

In a potentially exciting development, though, Iger also mentioned that Avengers-based attractions are being planned for Disney’s theme parks. This could be particularly interesting at Walt Disney World, where Universal’s nearby Islands of Adventure park already has Marvel superhero-based rides and other attractions.

With the Avengers movie arriving next week, we need to remember that this movie isn’t for all age groups. It’s rated PG-13, and this means that a certain group of Avengers fans will have to wait a little longer for the big screen experience (or, more likely, the DVD experience). But all is not lost, as heroes like to say, and the latest in the Marvel Reads app series is now out — Avengers Origins: Assemble! And it’s narrated by Stan Lee himself!

The app is an ebook with interactive elements scattered throughout the story. Telling the story of how the Avengers found Captain America during their search for a missing Hulk, the story has a number of chances for young readers to become part of the story — using their fingers on the touchscreen to melt the ice that holds Cap or tapping the finger on the bad guys to fling lightning bolts from Thor’s hammer to send them flying are just a few examples. (My five-year-old absolutely loves flinging the lightning bolts at the bad guys.)

Other opportunities exist for really young readers to find hidden Avengers symbols scattered throughout the story. There are six in all, and they’re probably a bit too easy to find for five-year-olds, but then again… if they were really hidden and required tapping on various parts of the screen to activate them that might frustrate any young reader, no matter their age.

To prepare for the upcoming Marvel Avengers movie, opening on May 4, you could watch all the movies: The Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger

Or you could read the book.

In anticipation of the movie, Marvel has released a paperback collection, Avengers: The Road to Marvel’s The Avengers. It contains the stories of the first two Iron Man movies, fills in some events in between the movies, particularly in providing background on the Black Widow, and includes a prequel to the events of Captain America’s tale.

I didn’t expect much from the collection, having seen all the movies, but I was pleasantly surprised. The biggest shock was that I didn’t miss Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. One, Downey’s Stark always perfectly embodied the comic book Stark and so it was an easy transition. Two, I kept hearing Downey’s voice speak Stark’s lines in the book, so it was as if he was there anyway. And, three, bonus, there’s more of Stark’s story here than in the movie.

I’m also always up for more Black Widow stories, particularly when she’s a spy. The story included is more humorous in tone than Widow’s usual missions and details exactly how she came to be the delivery girl who shows up in the movies. Being unnoticed was a tough job for the Widow.

The Cap story fills in a lot of the details that were glossed over in the movie. I really wanted to love that movie but I thought they spent so much time on the first half that the second half lost some emotional resonance. Or perhaps I knew the ending and thus didn’t get too invested in the final showdown between Captain America and the Red Skull.

There’s no Thor or Hulk in the book but there is a decent amount of Agent Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D.

The new “one-sheet” poster for The Avengers has just been released, and it’s the most detailed one we’ve seen so far, by a lot. All seven main heroes are visible: Iron Man and Thor in the foreground, Hawkeye and Black Widow behind them, and Nick Fury, Captain America, and the Hulk further back. Loki, the main villain, is nowhere to be seen.

I find it amusing that, despite obviously meant to be in the midst of a battle, none of the characters who usually sport headgear are wearing theirs (well, except for Fury’s eyepatch, but that doesn’t count). I know it’s a poster, and I’m sure the actors’ agents insisted that if anyone’s face was showing their clients’ should be too, but Iron Man without his helmet and Cap without his cowl just seem wrong. And there’s something odd about the perspective, too, since Cap looks taller than he should — at least, to my eye.

The new trailer drops tomorrow, so check back here for that around noon Eastern Time.

Added: I’ve just learned from MovieLine that the movie will be titled Avengers Assemble for its release in the U.K., so as to avoid confusion with the old spy TV series and the terrible 1998 movie based on it. You can see how people would be confused, since the setting, characters, and plot are all so very similar, right?

Finally, the first real trailer for Marvel’s The Avengers, set to hit theaters May 4, 2012, is here! It looks just as awesome as you’d hope it would, and the bits of dialogue in it are such that, even if you didn’t know Joss Whedon had written them, you’d probably guess. It appears that, unsurprisingly to anyone who saw Thor, Loki is to be the primary villain of the film. Enjoy the video, from Apple Trailers!